Belgium: Left parties to form united electoral ticket

December 31, 2013 -- International Viewpoint -- The end of the tunnel is far from being in sight. We are
only at the beginning of a gigantic offensive by European capitalism
against the world of labour, youth and women. Since 2008, in the
European Union (EU), more than 2 billion private bank debts have been
transformed into public debts, and these debts serve as the pretext for
a ferocious austerity.

The sacrifices imposed on the majority of the population
aggravate deficits and recession. But the dominant class continues to
pursue them. Why? Because its objective is not purely economic but
strategic: it wishes to break social resistance, dismantle what remains
of the “welfare state”, reduce the public sector to its simplest
expression and structurally weaken the trade unions. The drift of the
employers’ discourse on competitiveness is revealing: for the bosses, it
is no longer enough that “labour costs” are aligned with other European
countries — it is henceforth in the context of the world market, faced
with the “emergent” capitalism of China and elsewhere, that workers on
the old continent should be “competitive”.

The EU, capitalist war machine

The European Union and its governments are at the service of this
cruel and unjust policy. The very structure of the EU is in fact a
capitalist war machine, and provides an alibi to national governments:
“It’s not us, it’s Europe”, they say. But Europe is them! The new
European treaty (TSCG) which inscribes the “golden rule” in marble, is
down to them! The Fortress Europe which repels, imprisons and deports
asylum seekers is down to them. The Council, the sole body of effective
power, is made up of heads of state and of government. The European
Parliament has virtually no real power. The Commission, alone authorised
to propose legislative initiatives, is made up of member states.

The influence of the employers’ lobbies has recently again been
highlighted by the draft commission communication on the electricity
market. This text has been dictated by the fossil fuel sector and the
Round Table of European Industrialists. The employers want less
renewable fuels and more shale gas powered stations as in the United
States — to cut costs. And so much the worst for climatic disasters, the
danger of which has nonetheless been shown by the typhoon which has
ravaged the Philippines! The fact that a former Goldman Sachs employee —
Mario Draghi — heads the European Central Bank is symbolic: all these
institutions are linked to big capital which exploits labour and
pillages natural resources.

Social neoliberalism

Needless to say, social democracy is collaborating in the offensive
of social regression and ecological destruction. In Germany, Britain,
France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal … everywhere, the “socialist”
parties have applied the neoliberal and productivist programme. In
Belgium, the PS and Sp.a [1]
have been in government for twenty five years. A lesser evil? No: as in
other countries, the “socialists” have actively contributed to the
dismantling of numerous social conquests (early retirement rights or
unemployment benefits) and public services (under-financed, deregulated
or indeed privatised), to the security crackdown and the transformation
of taxation at the service of the employers and the wealthiest. They are
now ready to attack the trade union counter power, by breaking
collective agreements and discrediting workers’ struggles. As in other
countries, this favours a slide to the right in public opinion: a rise
of racism, Islamophobia, sexism, of each for themselves and the far
right.

The polarisation to the right coincides in Belgium with a community
polarisation. This specificity should not lead to the false conclusion
that the PS and the Sp.a are the last rampart against a division of
social security. Behind the scenes, the PS has already agreed with the
MR [2] and the Cdh [3].
And that of the far right. What message does the president of the PS
give when, as mayor, he criminalises begging in Charleroi? Who, if not
the far right, benefits from the police violence that the PS mayors of
Brussels and Saint-Josse have unleashed against Afghans and against the
squatters at the [former convent of] Gèsu? A dangerous dynamic is
established, paving the way to coalitions still more to the right — with
or without the PS and Sp.a.

2014, what is at stake?

It is in this general context that we must locate the parliamentary,
regional and European elections of May 2014. What is at stake for the
left? Continuing a policy which, in the name of the lesser evil, plans
the exclusion of tens of thousands of the unemployed? No, the argument
that “without the PS it would be worse” is “an insult to our
intelligence” — as the regional secretary of the FGTB of Charleroi,
Daniel Piron puts it. The real issue is to open a first breach in the
social-democratic and Green monopoly over “left” parliamentary
representation. To provide an anti-austerity political solution to the
despair and anger which is accumulating in a section of society. To show
to the PS and Sp.a that the time is coming when they can no longer fool
their social base with fine promises, thrown aside when the elections
are over. To set up a marker towards a new political expression of the
exploited and oppressed.

Almost everywhere in Europe, the degeneration of social democracy
(and the Greens) is freeing up political space for left forces. Belgium
has until now been an exception. This is the result of a multitude of
factors: social-democratic control over the trade union base and the
low political level of the social movements on the one hand, and the
Stalinist sectarianism of the main left formation — the PTB [4]
— and the inability of others to unite on a lasting basis around an
innovative anti-capitalist project, on the other. However, this
situation is changing. Two elements witness to this:

1. The evolution of the PTB, which has allowed it to grow and realise
an initial breakthrough in the communal and provincial elections of
October 2012;

2. The fact that more and more trades unionists and activists from other
social movements understand the need to fight also at the level of a
political alternative.

Taking responsibility

The LCR (Revolutionary Communist League) has thus decided to stare reality in the face and take
responsibility, having in mind the interests of the workers as a whole.
In Flanders, our comrades of the SAP (Socialistische Arberjderspartij) have concluded an agreement with
the PTB: we will be present on the PVDA+ lists. The common press release
of the two organisations is clear: “For the first time in a long
while, the elections of May 2014 offer the possibility, by a vote for
the PTB+, to have left elected representatives … which will give a clear
voice to the fight against austerity policies... The PTB and the SAP
have a different vision on a number of questions. By this agreement, we
strengthen the left. Thus, we can help advance the fight against
austerity, unemployment and for a radically social, ecological and
democratic alternative|”.

The situation in Francophone Belgium is different: the PTB is not as
hegemonic there as in Flanders. Above all, the appeal of the FGTB of
Charleroi-Sud Hainaut and the echo it has received (notably in the CNE)
allow hopes for a first step in the direction of a deep going
recomposition of the workers’ movement, both at the political/electoral
level and at the social/trade union level. This chance should be seized.
That is why the LCR has worked for months on a proposal which responds
to four objectives: the desire of the trade union left to set up a
marker towards a unitary political alternative to the left of the PS
and Ecolo [5],
the legitimate concern of the PTB not to abandon its profile, the
autonomy of other left formations and the desire of independent
“personalities” to participate in the process.

Emergency anti-capitalist programme

Success will depend in the first place on the PTB. It has the cards
in its hands. In Francophone Belgium, the “emergency anti-capitalist
programme” of the FGTB of Charleroi-Sud Hainaut constitutes a solid
contribution to the regroupment of forces. It is mainly on this basis
that the LCR will take its responsibilities. We hope that others will
do the same, because today it is the only way for the appeal of Daniel
Piron and his comrades to receive an initial political and electoral
form – and it is essential that it receives one, however imperfect. The
LCR (and the SAP in Flanders) maintain their complete political
independence in relation to the PTB. We will lead our own campaign by
calling for a vote of preference for our own candidates who will defend
our programme: anti-capitalist, internationalist, feminist,
eco-socialist.

Some will claim perhaps that the “the LCR is kowtowing to the PTB”
and so on. It is ridiculous. “They are them, we are us”. We prove it in
solidarity with the Syrian revolution, in the fight against the trade
union bureaucracy and patriarchy, in the defence of eco-socialism and
the self-organisation of struggles. As the Flanders press release says:
“the PTB and the SAP have a different vision on a number of questions”.
At the same time, the PTB is changing, everyone can see it. We follow
its evolution, hoping it will break with Mao-Stalinism without breaking
with anti-capitalism… and without adopting the purely verbal
pseudo-radical posture of the Greek or Portuguese CPs. But these
questions, important as they are, will not stop us from loyally
campaigning so that Raoul Hedebouw and Peter Mertens are elected to the
Chamber… and all the better if they are not alone. Our wish: that this
is the beginning of a new period of common left struggles.

[1]
The Parti socialiste belge (PS) and the Socialistische Partij Anders
(Sp.a) are the two Belgian social democratic parties -- since 1978 the
two parties have had independent structures. Since December 6, 2011 they
have been in a coalition government with the neoliberal right, led by
Elio Di Rupo (PS).

[2]
The Mouvement réformateur (MR) is a neoliberal cartel of the
Francophone and Germanophone right which participates in the government
of Elio Di Ruppo.

[3]
The Centre démocrate humaniste (Cdh), formerly the Parti
social-chrétien (PSC), is a Christian Democratic party that participates
in the government of Elio Di Ruppo] that the next government would
drastically reduce employers’ social security contributions. In reality,
it is the social neoliberal policies of the PS and Sp.a which fuel the
rise of the national neoliberalism of the NVA. (The Nieuw-Vlaamse
Alliantie is a right-wing Flemish pro-independence party, which
has been the biggest party in the Belgian parliament since 2010.)

[4]
The Parti du travail de Belgique -- Partij van Arbeid van België
(PTB-PVDA), of Maoist origin, obtained 1.55% of the vote at the federal
elections of June 2010 and made significant advances at the communal
elections of 2012, with 47 communal representatives and four provincial
representatives elected (two in Antwerp and two in Liege).

[5]
Ecolo is the Green party in Francophone and Germanophone Belgium, with
eight federal deputies – its Flemish equivalent, Groen, has five
deputies.